2024-07-10 3:58:25 ¶ ●

Will wouldn’t have thought their Dolarhyde kill was beautiful if it wasn’t someone like Dolarhyde being their foe. It is not the mindless act of murder that is attractive—in fact, that is unattractive—it is the fact that Dolarhyde made Will feel powerless, and viscerally taking that power back is what is beautiful. Will is not Hannibal (obviously) and he doesn’t have Hannibal’s sense for finding beauty in misery and tragedy. For him, it is all about power and anger and desperation. When he finds himself unable to fully hate Hannibal (Will finds comfort in Hannibal’s intelligent company) he then points his gun at Ingram as a substitute. A desperate, violent grapple to reclaim his agency and get revenge, which Hannibal stops—and this word sounds juvenile but I wonder if Hannibal felt this way—meanly. He refuses Will his catharsis (not that it was an appropriate solution any way). That is a moment I really like; it’s not that Will is killing, but Will is a person who isn’t mindful about his foot slipping down the edge of the cliff when he’s seeing red. And it is very very important to understand what makes him feel powerless and angry. He is not a vigilante of justice—he is a man with sharp teeth and a killer bite.